The Creative Story Behind Pringles
Once you pop, can you stop?
There is one snack food that I have noticed throughout my travels around the world - Pringles. The flavours on offer are different (and sometimes, really strange!) but the standard tube and curved chip are consistent.
And that made me curious - how did Pringles come to be available everywhere?
I went digging - and the story is stranger than I could have imagined!
And it starts in 1956, when Procter & Gamble wanted to solve a problem…
Consumers were complaining about potato chips. Potato chips were greasy. They broke too easily. They quickly became stale.
P&G tasked chemist Fredric Baur with solving the problem. Baur had a Ph.D. in organic chemistry, and had already developed frying oils and freeze-dried ice cream.
He spent two years experimenting and designing a new kind of chip – and a new kind of container. He developed a tubular can that was sealed to ensure freshness. Inside, he envisioned a stack of saddle-shaped chips, made from fried dough.
There was just one problem – his chips tasted terrible. P&G decided to shelve the project.
But years later, they decided to try again. Alexander Liepa began refining Baur’s work, in the hopes of creating a tastier chip.
Liepa developed a new recipe that included a paste of dehydrated potatoes, rice, corn, and wheat. He combined this recipe with Baur’s saddle shape (technically known as hyperbolic paraboloid) and Baur's tubular container.
The result was called 'Pringles Newfangled Potato Chips.' They weren’t greasy, and the container protected the fragile chips. Baur’s silver pop-top sealed the container – extending the shelf life of the chips and ensuring their freshness.
Pringles were introduced to limited US markets in 1967. But they weren’t a hit – so P&G tweaked the recipe, and introduced new flavors, like BBQ, Sour Cream & Onion, and Cheddar Cheese.
With the help of advertising, Pringles took off in the 1980s.
Pringles continued to experiment and introduce new flavors – from Prawn Cocktail and Seaweed to Serrano Ham and Roast Chicken. Pringles are now a billion-dollar company (owned by Kellogg's), and available in 140 countries.
Though he is not credited for the Pringles recipe, Baur’s patented tubular container and curved, stacked chip were true innovations. His design protected the product, extended the shelf life, and allowed Pringles to be sold nationally and benefit from economies of scale.
Fredric Baur died in 2008, and some of his remains were buried in a Pringles can, per his wishes. (True story!)
